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English 9 Honors (Pre-AP)

Summer Reading Activities

Summer Reading Requirements:

Students enrolled in English 9 Honors for the 2015-2016 academic year will be required to read: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, assigned excerpts from Mythology by Edith Hamilton, chapters 7 & 9 from Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor (“It’s All Greek to Me”; “...Or the Bible”). In addition, you will be reading one limited free choice from a short list. You will be given a short-answer / objective assessment during the first full week of the new school year on Preston’s non-fiction text; l; Hamilton will be a springboard for our first units in the Fall 2015 semester. You will be tested on the general material in Mythology after we have had time to discuss the myths in class. You will be allowed to access the texts during the exam, so it is in your best interest to highlight / use post its and take notes within the books themselves. There will be a more general exam for summer reading on Mythology within the first few weeks of school; a more concentrated unit exam on Mythology will follow after more extensive discussion and analysis of the work. Each of these exams will count towards your general grade of the first quarter. For the limited free choice, you will engage in a Socratic seminar/book talk; there will most likely be another objective assessment for this as well.

Mythology:

I have also taken the liberty of posing some general questions to guide you as you read Mythology. The selected stories are broken down into chapters. Some simply are narrative catalogues of various gods, goddesses, mortals, and demi-gods that you should know. Others are tales of star-crossed lovers and foolish mortals who have angered the gods due to their excessive pride or hubris. You will find the guiding questions on an attached sheet as well. The attached study guide questions are optional.

The Hot Zone:

There are a multitude of resources on my website to assist you with this reading. Like with Mythology, the study guide is optional, but useful. In addition, please annotate your text, focusing on Preston’s writing style, diction, tone, and purpose. Feel free to use the reader’s guide or to take notes on your own. You can find the study guide on my website.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: chapters 7 (“It’s All Greek to Me”) and 9 (“…Or the Bible”).

These two chapters from this longer text will accompany the literature we will study this year, particularly Hamilton’s Mythology and the texts from the Old Testament. Focus questions are posted on the summer reading page of my website to help guide you. For those of you to continue in the English honors/AP track, you will be given half the book to read and annotate over the next two summers. For this reason, you may want to invest in a copy now. Please note the new addition may have different chapter numbers than my edition: make sure you are reading the chapters on mythology and the Old Testament. I will provide a digital copy of the chapters on my website if you are unable to purchase the entire book.

Limited Free Choice:

Finally, you will be assigned one of the following: And Then There Were None, Jurassic Park, or The Alchemist. Each of these titles is thematically connected to a unit studied in English 9 Honors. In this packet of materials is a basic note taking sheet / script to help prepare you for the book talk. You are expected to have this completed by the first day of class when it will be collected. You should also annotate your book selection carefully highlighting characterization, theme, and symbolism.

In addition to this required reading, I hope that you will immerse yourself in books of your own choosing this summer. Explore new genres; find new favorite authors! The school-generated list has some wonderful titles. As a pre-AP English student, you should be using this time to read voraciously!

Throughout the summer, I will be updating my school website to provide you with clarification / advice on the summer assignments and links to review sites for grammar, SAT prep, and literature. You can access my site via the link at the PRHS teacher web page index or by simply typing the address into your browser: missarney. You may access the blog from this website. The blog should be up and running by July 4th.

If you have any questions regarding the assignments, please feel free to email me at missarney1@ or call me at 845-406-4532. You may also use the class blog to pose questions and post answers to discussions on the summer reading (and the literature throughout the year). This blog is an extension of class discussion so you will be awarded class participation points for your appropriate postings.

Spark Notes & other grade savers are forbidden; you are taking an honors English class to improve your reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. If I suspect you are using such a source for any written assignment, no credit (a 0%) will be given to that assignment.

Have a happy and healthy summer! I look forward to working with you in the upcoming school year.

-- Miss D. Arney

English 9 Honors / Pre-AP

Summer Reading Activities

Selections from Mythology by Edith Hamilton:

Part One

I (The Gods):

• “The Titans and the Twelve Great Olympians”

• “The Lesser Gods of Olympus:

• “The Gods of the Waters”

• “The Underworld”

• “The Lesser Gods of the Earth”

II (The Two Great Gods of Earth):

• Introduction (“The Two Great Gods of Earth”)

• Demeter

III How the World and Mankind Were Created – read complete text

IV (The Earliest Heroes)

• “Flower-Myths: Narcissus, Hyacinth, Adonis”

Part Two (Stories of Love and Adventure)

I “Cupid and Psyche” – read complete text

II. Eight Brief Tales of Lovers

• “Pyramus and Thisbe”

• “Orpheus and Eurydice”

• “Pygmalion and Galatea”

• “Baucis and Philemon”

• “Daphne”

IV Four Great Adventures

• “Phaethon”

• “Daedalus”

Part Three (The Great Heroes before the Trojan War)

IV. “Atalanta”

Part Five (The Great Families of Mythology)

I. The House of Atreus

* “Tantalus and Niobe”

* “Agamemmnon and His Children”

II. The Royal House of Thebes

• “Cadmus and His Children”

Part Six (The Less Important Myths)

I. Midas – and Others

* “Midas”

II. Brief Myths Arranged Alphabetically

• “Arachne”

• “Sisyphus”

• The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (the movie Outbreak is loosely based on this book).

• Chapters 7 & 9 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster

• Choose (1) of the following:

a) And Then There Were None (Ten Little Soldiers): Agatha Christie

b) Jurassic Park: Michael Crichton

c) The Alchemist : Paulo Coelho

English 9 Honors

Summer Reading Activities

Mythology by Edith Hamilton

Part One:

• You should know, by memory, the Greek and Roman names of the Olympian gods and goddesses and what the values, forces or subjects over which they hold domain, their symbols such as animals and flowers, and any other pertinent information (For example: Athena/ Minerva is goddess of wisdom, war, patriotism, the arts, ; owl is her special bird, etc.) These gods include: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hermes, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Ares.

• Be aware of the lesser gods, particularly those who pop up in the myths you will read.

• Know the story of Persephone and Hades (“Demeter”). How is this classified as a creation myth? What natural phenomena does it explain?

• Be aware of how the world was formed (the two rebellions against the fathers).

• Know the story of Pandora. How is this classified as a creation myth? What does it explain in the world? How was Pandora used to punish man? Why? Do you see connections between the story of Pandora and that of Adam and Eve?

• Review the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha. What value(s) does the story teach? How is this story similar to that of Noah and the Ark?

• Review the flower myths. What do the stories have in common? Why are they considered to be creation myths? How is love immortalized in these stories?

Parts Two and Three:

• As you read the love stories, pay attention to which tales have happy endings. Why do these tales end happily while others do not? What kind of values (e.g., respect of the gods; courtesy towards others; hospitality) are emphasized which bring about these happy endings? Are any of the lovers immortalized (their memory lingers in nature as a flower, tree, constellation, etc)?

• Now look at the star-crossed lovers: those individuals destined to fall in love but to never be together. What common traits exist among these stories (e.g., an angered god, hubris, etc.)? Are any of these lovers immortalized? Explain.

• The story of Atalanta and Meleager should fall into the star-crossed lovers category. Her tale appears in Part 3. The second half ends happily, so please revisit the bullet above.

• The stories of Phaethon and Icarus (found in “Daedalus”) both teach the folly of hubris, or believing oneself capable of being like the gods. How do each of these stories demonstrate this?

Part Five:

• We will encounter individuals from the House of Atreus this year.

• How did Tantalus anger the gods? How was he punished?

• Remember our buddy Agamemnon? Describe his homecoming.

• What happened to Agamemnon’s son, Orestes?

• We will also encounter members of the Royal House of Thebes.

• Who is Cadmus? Why is his bloodline cursed?

Part Six:

• Midas is another tale of a mortal punished for hubris. What did he do to anger the gods?

• How was Midas punished?

• What made Midas finally realize the error of his ways?

• What concession did the god(s) make for Midas?

• How does Arachne show hubris? To which goddess? How is she punished? How does her punishment show the goddess to be both vengeful yet just?

• Be familiar with the story of Sisyphus. What did he do? What is his punishment?

THE GREEK (Roman) GODS

Uranus (Heaven) + Gaea (Earth)

The Titans - Including Cronus and Rhea

THE OLYMPIANS

|HESTIA |POSEIDON |ZEUS |HERA |HADES |DEMETER |

|(Vesta) |(Neptune) |(Jupiter) |(Juno) |(Pluto / Dis) |(Ceres) |

|Goddess of the Hearth |God of the Seas and sea |King of the Gods |Queen of the Gods; wife |God of the Dead & |Goddess of the Harvest &|

|Fire |travel |Eagle; shield; |of Zeus |Underworld (Tartarus / |Growth |

|Protector of the home & |Trident; horse; bull |thunderbolt; oak tree |Peacock, cow |Hades) |Grain |

|family |Gave the horse to man; |Ruled weather, skies, & |Protector of marriage & |Helmet; metals; jewels |Mother of Persephone who|

| |Ruled earthquakes |Mount Olympus |childbirth; very jealous| |guides the seasons |

|ARES |HEPHESTUS |

|(Mars) |(Vulcan) |

|God of War & Violence |God of the Forge; Blacksmith God |

|Vulture; dog |Fire; blacksmith; hammer |

|Disliked by all (…except Aphrodite) |Born with deformed foot; maker of armor and weapons; married to Aphrodite|

OLYMPIAN CHILDREN OF ZEUS & OTHERS

|ATHENA |[PHOEBUS] APOLLO |ARTEMIS |APHRODITE |HERMES |DIONYSUS |

|(Minerva) |(Apollo) |(Diana) |(Venus) |(Mercury) |(Bacchus) |

|Goddess of Wisdom, War, |God of Light, Truth, |Goddess of the Hunt |Goddess of Love & Beauty|God of Sleep & Dreams |God of Wine & Fertility;|

|Arts, and Crafts |Healing, Archery, Music, |& Moon |Dove, sparrow, swan, |Winged Helmet, sandals,| |

|Owl; olive branch |Prophecy |Stag, moon, cypress |myrtle tree |caduceus (from Apollo) |Grapes, wine, theater |

|Sprang from head of Zeus |Crow, dolphin, laurel |tree |Born out of the foamy |Messenger of Zeus; |masks, |

|Protector of Athens |tree; lyre |Twin to Apollo |sea; Her son, Eros |Protector Travelers and|Born to a mortal |

|Create olive tree; ship, |Handsome, talented, |Protector of |(Cupid) caused people to|Thieves; Led the dead |Worshipped with drama |

|plow; taught cooking, |charming; most loved of |children & young |fall in love |to the Underworld |festivals |

|sewing, weaving |all of the gods |animals | | | |

***Please note that Dionysus and Demeter are actually considered earth deities and are not usually considered to part of the canon Olympian 12. You need to know them, though! ****

Summer Reading Book-Talk: Limited Free Choice

Name: ______________________________________________

Directions: Fill out the script below to turn in on the first day of school. You will use it to present your Book-Talk.

1. I read the book __________________________________ written by ___________ ______

2. The setting of my book ________________________________________________________ and it takes place during ______________________________________________________.

3. This book is about ________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(PROVIDE AN OBJECTIVE SUMMARY OF 4 TO 6 SENTENCES. BE SURE TO INCLUDE A DESCRIPTION OF THE CENTRAL CONFLICT & ITS RESOLUTION)

4. The main character in the book is _____________________________________. An important character trait this person demonstrates is ____________________________________ because ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(EXPLAIN HOW THE TRAIT IS DEMONSTRATED BY THE CHARACTER)

5. An important lesson this character learns or important change this character undergoes during the story is

________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. The theme of this story is

(STATE THE THEME IN A COMPLETE SENTENCE)

The theme is demonstrated in the story when __________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(HOW DOES THE READER RECOGNIZE THE THEME?)

7. A meaningful passage from the book is

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(COPY AN IMPORTANT SENTENCE FROM THE BOOK)

8. This passage is important because ________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(EXPLAIN HOW IT SUPPORTS, RELATES, OR REVEALS THE THEME)

7. A meaningful passage from the book is

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(COPY AN IMPORTANT SENTENCE FROM THE BOOK)

8. This passage is important because ________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(EXPLAIN HOW IT SUPPORTS, RELATES, OR REVEALS THE THEME)

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This information will be briefly reviewed in class prior to the summer reading exam and will be explored in greater depth prior to the mythology unit exam. During the first week of school, however, you should be prepared for a quiz on the major Olympian gods as outlined on the following chart! Know their Greek and Roman names, their domain and all symbols!

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